Italian YouTube blogger searched for review of consoles with pirated games
Francesco Salicini, creator of the Once Were Nerd channel, could face up to three years in prison for reviewing retro consoles with pre-loaded ROM files.
Francesco Salicini, creator of the Once Were Nerd channel, could face up to three years in prison for reviewing retro consoles with pre-loaded ROM files.
In April 2025, Italian police raided the home of blogger Francesco Salicini, who runs the YouTube channel Once Were Nerd. According to TechSpot, the economic crimes unit seized 30 gaming devices, including Anbernic, Powkiddy, and TrimUI consoles. All of them contained SD cards with pre-installed retro games (ROM files of classic consoles).
The police also confiscated Salichini’s smartphone, which was only returned in June. According to Italian law, he is suspected of promoting content that infringes copyright. The blogger himself claims that law enforcement officers are referring to violations regarding Sony and Nintendo products. At the same time, it is not known whether these companies filed a complaint or whether the police acted independently.
What kind of consoles?
Chinese company Anbernic produces handheld consoles that run on Android or Linux and support emulation of classic systems like NES, SNES, Sega Genesis, Game Boy, PlayStation, and Nintendo 64. They often come preloaded with thousands of games, which has led to complaints about the blogger’s content.
Salicini denies the charges of facilitating piracy and says he received no money from Anbernic or placed affiliate links on his videos. He is currently working with lawyers and has started a GoFundMe campaign to raise money for legal fees.
His YouTube channel has over 50,000 subscribers and is now at risk of being shut down. If found guilty, Salichini could face large fines or up to three years in prison.
We previously wrote about how Japanese company Nintendo announced on Wednesday that it had sold more than 3.5 million Switch 2 consoles in the first four days after launch, making it the fastest-selling gaming device in the history of the company and the video game industry.
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